Two cartoons this morning with plays on proper names: a Mother Goose and Grimm playing on Simon & Garfunkel, a Bizarro playing on the Big Bang theory and possibly also The Big Bang Theory:
(#1)
(#2)
(If you’re puzzled by the odd symbols in #2 — Don Piraro says there are 2 of them — see this Page.)
Simon and Carbuncles. On S&G, from Wikipedia:
Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the most popular groups of the 1960s, and were viewed as counterculture icons of the decade’s social revolution, alongside artists such as the Beatles and Bob Dylan.
S&G in 1970:
(#3)
Meanwhile, a carbuncle is ‘a severe abscess or multiple boil in the skin, typically infected with staphylococcus bacteria’ (NOAD2). The pictures are distressing, and I’ll spare you them.
The Big Bangs theory. On the Big Bang theory (not illustrated here):
The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model for the universe from the earliest known periods through its subsequent large-scale evolution. It states that the universe expanded from a very high density state, and offers a comprehensive explanation for a broad range of observed phenomena, including the abundance of light elements, the cosmic microwave background, large scale structure, and Hubble’s Law. (link)
and on the tv show (with an extended cast poster):
The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady … The show premiered on CBS on September 24, 2007.
The show is primarily centered on five characters living in Pasadena, California: Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper, both physicists at Caltech, who share an apartment; Penny, a waitress and aspiring actress who later becomes a pharmaceutical representative, and who lives across the hall; and Leonard and Sheldon’s similarly geeky and socially awkward friends and co-workers, aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz and astrophysicist Raj Koothrappali. Geekiness and intellect of the four guys is contrasted for comic effect with Penny’s social skills and common sense. (link)
(#4)
Then on the (plural) noun bangs, from NOAD2:
N. Amer. a fringe of hair cut straight across the forehead: she brushed back her wispy bangs. [from a use of the adverb bang to mean ‘abruptly.’]
(The British equivalent is the singular noun fringe.)
And that brings us to Donald Trump; these days in the U.S., he’s more or less constantly, unavoidably, in the news, but not all of my readers are similarly afflicted. A bangsy/fringeful (and truculent) photo, plus a Wikipedia snippet:
(#5)
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American television celebrity, politician, real estate developer, business magnate, investor, and author.
And now an omnipresent candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the U.S.
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